I picked up a copy of Creative Knitting magazine last week. It had a lot of patterns and projects in it. I am new to knitting so I may be more impressed with it now than I will be in a year.... but it also had some basics for both knitting and crocheting in the mag.

loof

__________________
I'm gonna work as if I don't need the money!
Love as if I've never been hurt!
Dance as if no one is watchin'!
Sing as if I know I won't be heard!

I have a bad habit of cruzing through the knitting section at bookstores, and often pick up book or two every time.

There are so many, and so many books are fairly useless for me because they are for childrens patterns, or things I would never knit, or contain 3000 Faire Island patterns for you Christmas Stockings, etc. I sit down in the aisle and flip through anything that catches my eye, looking for the pictures, the overall topic, and the patterns. A big part of what I like about knitting books is the beautiful pictures; that's key.

Some of my favorites:Hip to Knit (several strait forward patterns in plain English not code - good for pattern beginners, as well as lots of great tips, illustrations, variations, and info on pattern altering)

Weekend Knitting (a really beautiful book with some great patterns - I like things that can be knit quickly)

Simple Knits with a Twist (one of the more inspirational books I've had, that has neat patterns, great pictures, and works with "yarns" other than yarn like ribbon, wire, and plastic bags (!) as well as yarn)

Last Minute Knitted Gifts (again, fast patterns - wee! - ranked in how long it takes to knit them)

Felted Knits (book on felting with lots of great patterns and some really good felting instruction/advice)

Learn to Knit Afghan Book (a book of swatches to sew into an afghan, that is one of the more comprehensive, strait forward stitch pattern collections I've seen ranging from mulit-color work, cabling, lace, slipped-stich patterns, textured patterns, mosaic patterns, etc - while I'll probably never knit the blanket, it's a GREAT pattern referance)

Weekend Knitting (a really beautiful book with some great patterns - I like things that can be knit quickly)

Last Minute Knitted Gifts (again, fast patterns - wee! - ranked in how long it takes to knit them)

I can imagine that expediency IS important to you, Yellow...since Ive learned that you tend to be knitting 50,000 things at one time! I bet we would all stand in absolute AWE of your collection of needles!

Thanks SO much for your advice....

PS to Loof...I only ended up buying yarn yesterday, will keep you posted on the development of knitting library.

Well, I sat on the floor at Borders for about 2 hours looking through every knitting book & magazine they had.....I didnt find ANYTHING that I thought would come in handy in the long-term.

One of the problems was that only ONE of their 4 shelves of books had patterns in 1X & 2X. Someone, somewhere has written a secret law that forbids women with "a little extra to love" to wear anything even closely resembling cute!

This is not an issue that is exclusively applicable to the knitting community by any means. Go to any department store's plus sized section....sequins and sweatsuits!!!!! :x

Maybe I should just wait until I learn how to "translate" (or, shall I say "upgrade" hee hee!) patterns.

They didnt have the Rebecca mag or the Urban Knitters book, so there still may be hope, but Im feeling mighty discouraged right now. :(

DEAR GOD! Do you know what this *means*?!? You have to learn the arcane art of altering paterns.

Please please please read this and understand that I am in NO WAY being sarcastic or snarky... I've got a big grin on my face.

After sitting down and thinking about it because someone on this forum asked, I figured I've been knitting off and on some 20 years. I consider myself an advanced knitter.

This has nothing to do with how long I've been knitting however; it has to do with the fact that I'm crazy adventerous. I will knit swathes and practice patterns. I will dare to rip out stitches. I will madly alter paterns with total fearlessness... Because, what have I got to loose?

A few hours? Meh. I've got many hours left on this earth to knit, and knit cool ****.

I say this because the patterns for beautiful things designed for the "athletic build" are completely viable for anyone. With a gage swatch, a pencil and paper, and a calculator, that is.

All it takes to become a bad-*** knitter who can make things that fit and are beautiful is the willingness to make TERRIBLE errors with glee and learn from those mistakes, to try new things, and to throw a few hours into making an attempt which only *might* be successful.

I suggest you buy the books because they are beautiful, inspiring, and contain fantastic patterns and pictures - then I suggest you wildly alter the paterns to fit your every whim, desire, and bodacious curve.

I refer you to Stitch and Bitch Nation. The whole first part of the book is dedicated to step by step instructions on how to alter paterns, including clear and easy explanations of the math which scares most of us.

I have also come across books that are all about designing paterns; getting one of these might help you understand what goes into the makings of patterns so you can understand them and then deconstruct them to fit your needs.

I recently made a sweater that is awaiting enough still hours to finish. I bought yarn, made a gage swatch, then started knitting away. I used the patterns from 3 different sweaters I found in books to figure out the measurments, techniques, and directions - even though not a sinlge one of them was designed for the gage I was knitting for or had sizes I needed. When I "finished" the neckline, I found I had made some CATACLISMIC mistake in my figuring.... I ripped a bunch of stitchs after finding that the neckline gaped open like the hungry maw of some strange, wool-blend, hungry baby bird. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I'll figure something out. It may be a roll neck, I may add that hood I was thinking of in the first place. Who knows?

After all, all I've got to loose is a couple of hours, and all I've got to gain is a beautiful sweater I'll love wearing.

Point being? Buy the pattern. Love the pattern. Ditch the directions and make the pattern yours.

LOVE your "snarkiness", Yellow, and you are right, and I am being whiny. But have ended up with a big grin on MY face, too.

This all comes from years of dissatisfied consumerism added to my wish to pick up needles for the first time and knit something FABULICIOUS that will fit in a way that makes me look like a size 7. Im SURE that Im the ONLY knitter (or woman, for that matter) who has EVER felt that way.

One more whine then I promise Im through.... numbers are HAAAARRRRD!!! :P

I vow to try to embrace the pattern and ask YOU for help should I need it.

I don't want to discourage you, but the Rebecca has no larger sizes in it. I just realiszed that they sometimes have only small and medium size!

Have you seen the new Rowan magazine? On the website they say the sizes go up to 1X and altering a pattern one size up shoudn't be much of a problem.

Hmm, I thought that atleast Rowan and Filati would have a special magazine with bigger sizes, but apparently they don't!
I know that we here in Germany have one magazine for plus sizes and my mum just brought one over ebay(it's for crocheting though). Some of the designs in this issue are kind of old fashioned(think 80's), but there are also some good ones in it.
That won't help you much since it's german, but I'm just wondering that there's no english/american magazine with bigger sizes.